Monday, 28 February 2011

Conservation and behaviour change alone will not get us to the dramatically lower levels of CO2 emissions needed to make a real difference. We also need to focus on developing innovative technologies that produce energy without generating any CO2 emissions at all.

These are the words of Bill Gates about global warming and the global urge to reduce CO2 emissions. Recently we published an article about Mr. Gates quest to find a clean source of energy that will “save us” from the eminent threats of climate change. The man who revolutionized personal computing is now investing millions to stop global warming.

European Union carbon permits advanced to a three-month high as rising German power and U.K. natural gas prices boosted demand for emission allowances.

EU permits for delivery in December closed at 15.40 euros ($21.24) on London’s European Climate Exchange after rising as much as 1.5 percent to 15.52 euros a metric ton, the highest intraday level since Nov. 25.

The contract extended this month’s gain to 2.8 percent as the European Commission. The EU regulator is considering withholding 500 million to 800 million allowances in the next round of the bloc’s cap-and-trade program from 2013. The amount would correspond to the surplus that can be carried over from the current five-year phase that ends in 2012, according to the commission estimates in a draft document circulated last week.

German baseload power for next month gained 0.6 percent to 51.50 euros a megawatt-hour, according to broker prices on Bloomberg. Higher power prices can strengthen the incentive to sell electricity forward, stimulating demand for CO2 permits.

One of Germany's biggest installers of solar panels has set up a base in Kent amid expectations of rapid growth in the UK solar energy market.

SunConcept, which also operates in Italy, Spain and South Africa, has opened a subsidiary at Kings Hill, near Maidstone, as a springboard into the UK market. It is hoping to benefit from the government's "feed-in tariff" system, which encourages the installation of solar panels.

The system was introduced by the Labour government in April, allowing anyone installing small-scale power generation in businesses, homes, hospitals or schools to claim a tariff of 41.3p a unit. A further 3p a unit could be earned from electricity sent to the grid.

Even as SunConcept ramps up its UK presence, the feed-in tariff could be under threat after the coalition government brought forward a review of the scheme as it sought to cut costs.

Friday, 25 February 2011

At a time when cutting costs is imperative for many businesses, utility costs can be a significant and unavoidable overhead. Energy costs can account for up to a fifth of the average business' expenditure and this is compounded by a volatile energy market and an increasing amount of complex regulation on the horizon.

However this threat can be turned into an opportunity to cut costs and gain competitive advantage if businesses are willing to transform their approach to managing their energy use.

From our experience of working with over 750,000 business and public sector customers we know that most businesses can save at least 10% on their bills by taking steps to manage their energy more efficiently.

For those that go a step further and make energy efficiency a business priority, savings in the region of 20-30% are achievable.

British utility Centrica announced record profits on Thursday as news of soaring oil prices continued to put UK energy prices under upward pressure.

Centrica's pre-tax profit of GBP1.92bn in 2010 was an increase of 18% over the previous year. ICIS Heren data shows that the key Day-ahead UK price for wholesale gas rose by 38% in 2010 compared with 2009.

Year on year, the average price of wholesale gas for January 2011 was 59.031 pence/therm - an 88% increase over the price for January 2010, at 31.39 pence/therm. This index figure is a weighted average of all the deals for gas delivered over the next month reported to ICIS Heren. These deals took place the month before delivery.

And the Day-ahead price for gas delivered during working days is up by 44% so far this year, compared with the same period last year.

UK-based G4S Utility Services has been awarded a £500,000 contract to install gas data loggers for Gazprom Global Energy Solutions. These new installations will provide smart metering capability to a number of high street business brand names from the retail and hospitality sectors.

The humble street light is joining the ranks of wind turbines and solar power plants in supplying renewable energy to the electricity grid.

A street lamp covered in photovoltaic cells, which can generate more energy from sunlight than it consumes to light the street, is being tested in the UK. And the lamp is already supplying electricity to the National Grid.

The SunMast, developed by Scotia, based in Aarhus, Denmark, generates electricity from sunlight during the day, which it supplies to the grid. It then simply draws electricity back from the grid at night to power its light.

If the trial in South Mimms in the UK is successful, the lamps could reduce the emissions produced by streetlights by 120 per cent, the company claims.

The photovoltaic solar cells, which are designed to generate electricity even on cloudy days, are fitted down the length of the mast, to increase their surface area. An inverter in the base of the lamp converts the DC electricity generated by the cells into AC for the grid.

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

British gas prices eased on Wednesday after surging on Tuesday when the crisis in Libya led to a cut in gas supplies to Europe and drove up crude prices, traders said.

Low demand for commercial gas because of relatively mild weather in Britain and healthy supply from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and the North Sea weighed on the prompt, while the surge in curve prices seen on Tuesday prompted some to sell for a profit on Wednesday.

What started in Egypt seems to be spreading all over the Middle East. Popular revolt and political uncertainty is making investors plan for the unpredictable, as crude oil prices continues to rise, which in turn is contributing to higher gas and energy prices.

When the protests started in Egypt crude oil prices were below the $100 mark, more precisely at $98 a barrel. Last Monday the Brent crude oil barrel was traded at $108. As UK gas prices are tied up to oil prices, prompt and curve gas prices rose too.

The U.K. doesn't see a potential shortage in the supply of oil to Europe due to the political unrest in Libya, but high oil prices on continued turmoil in the Middle East causes "anxiety," the country's energy minister said Tuesday.

Libya's oil production is a small proportion of total global output, and reassurances from Saudi's oil minister that producing countries will meet any potential shortage are "very clear," Charles Hendry told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a meeting here.

"The reassurance we've had from the minister makes it very clear that he thinks if there was a significant shortage the producers can step in to get it back up to where they think it needs to be," Hendry he said.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Fossil fuels, specifically oil, are going to run out. You can debate the time frame of “when” until you’re blue in the face and it won’t change the fact that it’s a mathematical certainty that, eventually, that black gold is going to run out.

Efforts to nudge the civilized world towards alternative sources of energy have been ongoing for some time and have seen significant progress. If you find that to be good news, you’ll love this:

According to researchers at both Stanford and the University of California-Davis, the world could be practically free from fossil fuels inside of 40 years.

The story of Gazprom is the story of interdependence. The Russian energy giant, benefiting from monopoly control of natural gas exports, is one of the central pillars of the state.

Last year, the Kremlin depended on this single company for 15 per cent of its tax revenues. Gazprom, in turn, depended on gas sales to Europe for most of its export earnings, which totalled $72.4bn last year, while supplies to the world beyond the former Soviet Union accounted for $52.8bn.

Meanwhile, a string of European countries, particularly the Kremlin’s former satellite states, depend on Gazprom for between 80 and 100 per cent of their natural gas imports. Just as the Russian energy giant must sell its wares, so these countries have nowhere else to turn if they are to keep their lights on. Mutual interdependence locks together Gazprom, the Russian state and European gas consumers.

Monday, 21 February 2011

British gas prices rose across the board on Monday as higher demand tightened supply margins,while curve contracts traded up on North Sea oil prices reaching new highs following Libyan oil export concerns.

Gas for day-ahead delivery traded at a six-day high of 53.75 pence ($87.18) per therm, up 1.40 pence from the previous session. Within-day gas prices traded in line with the spot at 53.70 pence, a 1.20 pence gain.

"On the prompt the gas system is short and the weather isn't looking as warm, so all staying strong," one UK-based energy trader said.

The UK government is expected to announce further funding for the renewable energy sector following calls for a £100 million fund to support new projects. Government sources indicated an announcement could come as early as next month, while the wave and tidal industry is also preparing its own funding campaign.

Martin McAdam, chief executive of wind energy developer Aquamarine Power, said UK government funding would help to bring in investment from the private sector.

Demonstrator projects could then be used as a shop window for attracting orders from commercial customers at home and abroad, McAdam said.

Friday, 18 February 2011

At a time when cutting costs is imperative for many businesses, utility costs can be a significant and unavoidable overhead. Energy costs can account for up to a fifth of the average business' expenditure and this is compounded by a volatile energy market and an increasing amount of complex regulation on the horizon.

However this threat can be turned into an opportunity to cut costs and gain competitive advantage if businesses are willing to transform their approach to managing their energy use.

From our experience of working with over 750,000 business and public sector customers we know that most businesses can save at least 10% on their bills by taking steps to manage their energy more efficiently. For those that go a step further and make energy efficiency a business priority, savings in the region of 20-30% are achievable.

The trust said it expects to save around £18,500 a year with the new tools.

Shaun Jeffery, ICT operations manager at Newham University Hospital NHS Trust, said: "One month in and we were already saving approximately £1,250 per month across just the PCs which have had the agreed power policy applied. In just one year, we stand to reduce our carbon emissions by approximately 143 metric tonnes a year."

Europe could save €900bn (£762bn) and still hit its 2050 carbon reduction targets if it built fewer wind farms and more gas plants, a coalition of gas producers including Gazprom, Centrica and Qatar Petroleum has told the European commission.

The industry is lobbying against the possibility of the commission setting new renewable energy targets and phasing out the use of gas. Next month, it will publish a draft "road map" energy strategy to 2050.

The Guardian has obtained a copy of an unpublished report by consultancy McKinsey, commissioned by the European Gas Advocacy Forum, which also includes ENI, E.On, GDF Suez, Shell and Statoil. The report, which has been sent to the commission, describes gas as a clean, plentiful and relatively cheap form of energy.

It challenges the idea that renewable forms of energy should be the primary way to cut emissions.

The earnings haul, to be revealed on February 24, will sit uneasily with many consumers who recently saw their energy bills rise.

It compares with profits of £595 million for 2009.

Before Christmas, British Gas, Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy all announced hikes to household bills because of rising wholesale costs. Average annual electricity and gas bills now stand at £1,133. During the first half of 2010, British Gas made £585 million, according to analysts, on the back of the cold snap and an influx of customers who had switched from other suppliers after it lowered prices.

Its number of customers rose by an estimated 270,000, representing the best growth for a decade for British Gas.

Britain’s biggest energy supplier now has 16 million customer accounts.

Profits were much lower in the second half of the year, with some months thought to be loss making.

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

OAO Gazprom expects 2011 total export revenue to top the 2008 record as natural-gas prices increase and demand for the fuel recovers in Europe.

Gazprom expects total export revenue of $72.4 billion this year, or $2.5 billion more than the record in 2008, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said today in London. That includes $52.8 billion from exports of natural gas outside the Commonwealth of Independent States, he said.

Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, which expects European gas prices to rise 15 percent this year, plans to boost exports to the region. Sales to Europe are planned at about 152 billion cubic meters of gas this year, compared with 139 billion cubic meters last year, according to a presentation to investors provided to Bloomberg.

UK manufacturing industry has called for a re-think of potentially damaging proposals for a Carbon Price Floor.

Manufacturers’ organisation EEF stressed the importance of a CPF based on a full assessment of the damage to competitiveness, a proper regulatory impact assessment and a more co-ordinated approach to climate change policy.

Responding to the HM Treasury Consultation on the CPF, the organisation said it supports measures to accelerate a move to a low carbon power generation mix and accepts that there will be some costs to bear. However, it believes that the Carbon Price Floor as it is being proposed will have the unintended consequence of increasing costs for manufacturing, especially energy intensive sectors (while meeting the wishes of electricity generators for greater support to accelerate investment in low carvon electricity generation).

EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler said: “Industry accepts that addressing climate change comes with a price tag but we are rapidly reaching a tipping point where companies who are internationally mobile will say enough is enough.”

UK spot gas prices rise as Norway’s biggest gas platform Troll shuts temporarily overnight. Just as UK gas market analysts and gas brokers were talking about how reliable and important Norwegian gas supplies has been to the British gas market this winter. Two weeks of unexpected outages and shut downs due to power cuts in Norwegian gas platforms and gas processing plants made the rollercoaster of UK gas prices move again.

Three large energy companies have been carrying out covert intelligence-gathering operations on environmental activists, the Guardian can reveal.

The energy giant E.ON, Britain's second-biggest coal producer Scottish Resources Group and Scottish Power, one of the UK's largest electricity-generators, have been paying for the services of a private security firm that has been secretly monitoring activists.

Leaked documents show how the security firm's owner, Rebecca Todd, tipped off company executives about environmentalists' plans after snooping on their emails. She is also shown instructing an agent to attend campaign meetings and coaching him on how to ingratiate himself with activists.

The disclosures come as police chiefs, on the defensive over damaging revelations of undercover police officers in the protest movement, privately claim that there are more corporate spies in protest groups than undercover police officers.

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Gazprom, Russia's top energy firm, said on Monday it agreed to cut gas prices in its long-term contracts for some European clients last year on the back of sagging demand and low spot prices.

A deluge of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe over the past two years, at a time of weak demand, has often driven spot gas prices well below Gazprom's long-term contract prices, making Russian gas unattractive and unprofitable for its customers.

Gazprom did not say by how much it cut the prices, although, according to its own estimates released last week overall average prices for its gas in Europe in 2011 will be increased by some 15 percent to $352 per 1,000 cubic metres.

British utility services group Telecom Plus said full-year profit will be slightly ahead of market expectations after benefiting from higher energy prices and greater consumption during the cold snap in December.

The company, which supplies gas, electricity, telephony and broadband under the Utility Warehouse brand, said it would recommend a final dividend of 14 pence, totalling 22 pence per share for the year.

"Our financial performance for the second half of the current financial year will reflect a small positive contribution from the impact of the latest retail energy price increases, as well as from the recent cold weather," said the company in a statement on Monday.

But beyond these regional geopolitical influences, commodity prices are rising across the globe. Everything, from food to raw materials, appears to be on an inflationary path. Gas is no exception. Wholesale prices on the UK spot market doubled from 30p a therm in March 2010 to 60p by December. Forward prices for 2011 rose by nearly 50% over the same period. This dramatic shift triggered the recent increase in domestic UK energy prices.

To some observers, this upward move is perplexing, as they read about the prolific discoveries of shale gas in the US. It has been hailed as a long-term "game changer", which could trigger a global gas glut. Shale has certainly revolutionised the US market, releasing vast, and hitherto uneconomic reserves. It now accounts for 20% of production there, up from just 5% in 2006. As a result, the price of natural gas in the US has fallen by 40% over the last three years. At times this month it has traded at half the cost of gas in the UK.

Utilisoft Pty - part of Bglobal - has been recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in Australia in the 'Dun & Bradstreet SmartCompany Industry Growth List'.

Utilisoft was ranked 8th in the information technology sector for the whole of Australia, having achieved revenue growth of 86% in 2010.

The list is compiled by SmartCompany - a news, information and resource site for Australian entrepreneurs, business owners and business managers - in collaboration with business information specialist Dun & Bradstreet, using information from its commercial database of more than 2.8 million companies.

Utilisoft MD Peter Norris said: "This is a fantastic achievement for a niche operator like Utilisoft and everybody within the company should feel proud of this award.

O2, the UK’s leading provider of mobile phones and broadband, has signed a multi-million pound contract with G4S Utility Services to simplify the remote management and monitoring of its national smart meter network. G4S is one of Britain’s largest providers of smart metering and field services.

The alliance is O2’s first foray into the smart meter market, which is poised for significant growth as power utilities deploy residential smart meters to meet the government’s 2020 deadline. As part of the three year, multi-million pound deal, O2 will provide M2M technology, including approximately 150,000 SIM cards, to connect smart meters across the UK to G4S’ data centre.

In addition, G4S will use O2’s SMS gateway to transmit information from its smart meters to its data centre and back again. Outbound messaging will enable G4S to remotely monitor the Smart meters, reducing the cost of maintenance and as well as the carbon emissions associated with travel. O2 will provide G4S with the connectivity to run the annual testing of its disaster recovery process.

Good science is always rooted in good data, but the most entertaining science is the stuff that transcends the need for data by rooting itself in fantastical claims -- and a rejection of the idea that data is even necessary.

So naturally it’s a thrill to learn that two Italian scientists claim to have successfully developed a cold fusion reactor that produces 12,400 watts of heat power per 400 watts of input. Not only that, but they’ll be commercially available in just three months.

Maybe.

Cold fusion is a tricky business -- some say a theoretically implausible business -- and exactly zero of the previous claims of successful cold fusion have proven legitimate (remember when North Korea developed cold fusion?). Hypothetically (and broadly) speaking, the process involves fusing two smaller atomic nuclei together into a larger nucleus, a process that releases massive amounts of energy. If harnessed, cold fusion could provide cheap and nearly limitless energy with no radioactive byproduct or massive carbon emissions.

Bglobal is joining forces with Korean giant Samsung to develop a smart meter energy suppliers can use for their UK residential and industrial and commercial customers.

The two firms will establish a joint venture. Samsung will provide this company with smart meters and will work with Bglobal to secure funding to develop a fully funded, rental model for that energy suppliers will able to rent to their residential and commercial customers.

Although an energy-saving lamp can save 60 percent to 80 percent on electricity usage and has a much longer service lifespan than an incandescence bulb, it can pollute 1,000 liters of water and 300 cubic meter of air, the Discovery.163.com reported.

Due to costs and technological restraints, Chinese companies are incapable of producing non-mercury bulbs. 0.5mg mercury content in each bulb will poison 1,000 liters of water and further impact soil and crops.

"No matter whether it's buried or burnt, energy-saving bulbs will cause pollution to water and soil." said an official at the Hebei provincial environmental protection bureau.

Friday, 11 February 2011

British gas prices surged after one of the North Sea's biggest production platforms shut down on Friday, slashing supply to Europe's biggest market.

Norway's Ormen Lange field was shut down on Friday morning after a technical glitch, with operator Royal Dutch Shell unable to say when it might restart.

Flows of gas from the huge field through the Langeled pipeline dived from around 65 mcm/day at around 0910 GMT to around 53 mcm 30 minutes later, driving UK gas prices for immediate delivery up about 3 percent from Thursday's levels GB2NB to highs around 54 pence on Friday morning.

Current plans to introduce retail competition into the UK water sector will add £60 to annual non-household bills for little medium-term benefit, Deloitte warned industry regulators and investors this week.

A report from the business advisory firm said the proposals would not deliver the same gains in the water industry as retail competition had in the telecoms, gas and electricity sectors for three reasons: their lack of focus on well-identified and significant cost inefficiencies; their limited scope (proposals do not currently include domestic customers); and the absence of upstream competition in the sector.

U.K. natural gas declined amid forecasts for milder weather that may reduce heating demand and as Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. said it started a new production plant in the Gulf state.

Qatar is the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas and supplies the fuel to the South Hook terminal in Wales. LNG made up 60 percent of the U.K.’s imports in September, surpassing pipeline shipments for the first time. QatarGas Train 7 is the last of the state’s production units to start.

“All 14 LNG trains are now producing LNG, meeting the energy needs of tens of millions of people around the world,” Mohammed Saleh Al Sada, Qatar’s energy minister, said in an e- mailed statement.

The power generation business has changed so much over the last decade that electricity generated from solar energy will be cheaper than electricity generated from the proposed new nuclear plants according to a leading UK power supplier and US researchers.

"The cost of generating power from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has steadily fallen over the last ten years while the projected costs of constructing the new nuclear plants have ballooned," said Ken Moss, CEO of mO3 Power company.

"The cost of producing and installing PV cells has been steadily dropping for some years," he said. "A PV system now costs about half of what it did in 1998." The average price of a PV module in 2010 was $1.50/kW and by mid- year that figure is expected to drop to a maximum of $1.10kW.

Hannon Westwood, a specialist consultant on North Sea oil, has urged the Government to use tax allowances to encourage investment in 90 key oil discoveries that could yield the Exchequer $44bn (£27bn) in the next two decades.

Clarity over whether clean-up costs can be offset against petroleum revenue tax as well as help with access to pipelines and credit would also encourage more North Sea field development, the consultancy said.

Some 20bn barrels of oil are believed to lie below the UK continental shelf, enough to power the country for the next 20 years. However, Jim Hannon, director at Hannon Westwood, said developers are unlikely to raise the investment needed without Government assistance.

Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, today announced a new offering for its utility customers using the Home Energy Dashboard, a device based on Intel® architecture that enables utilities to interact directly with consumers in the home.

Capgemini’s Smart Energy Services team will support utilities in the deployment and management of the Home Energy Dashboard, enabling them to offer new and enhanced energy services and improve their customer acquisition and retention performance.

This next generation In-Home Display will allow utilities to better manage their demand response programs by shifting residential customers’ peak usage without impacting their comfort. It will allow utilities to offer preferential tariffs to their customers, as they seek to reduce energy consumption, and to deliver new services, such as solar panel monitoring, electric vehicle battery management and storage management. Bundling these value-added services together with tariffs to make them more attractive to new and existing customers will also allow utilities to improve customer acquisition and retention in competitive markets where switching rates are high.

Monday, 7 February 2011

British spot and curve gas prices eased on Monday morning as supplies improved and oil prices remained well below last week's highs, although the price for next week firmed slightly on a colder weather outlook.

Supplies of gas from Norway rebounded over the weekend after exports from the Kollsnes and Kaarstoe gas treatment plants were cut by power supply problems.

Besides the DEHEMS meter, participants received ‘Green Doctor’ training designed for changing their behavior and encouraging efficient energy consumption.

Over the trial period, the number of people unplugging chargers from the mains, always switching off lights when leaving a room, never leaving appliances on standby and boiling just enough water for one person when using a kettle had doubled on average.

Trial participant Jean Allison from Handsworth says the project has changed her behavior for good and considerably reduced her bill.

UK-based Cella Energy has developed a synthetic fuel that could lead to US$1.50 per gallon gasoline. Apart from promising a future transportation fuel with a stable price regardless of oil prices, the fuel is hydrogen based and produces no carbon emissions when burned.

The technology is based on complex hydrides, and has been developed over a four year top secret program at the prestigious Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford. Early indications are that the fuel can be used in existing internal combustion engined vehicles without engine modification.

According to Stephen Voller CEO at Cella Energy, the technology was developed using advanced materials science, taking high energy materials and encapsulating them using a nanostructuring technique called coaxial electrospraying.

“We have developed new micro-beads that can be used in an existing gasoline or petrol vehicle to replace oil-based fuels,” said Voller. “Early indications are that the micro-beads can be used in existing vehicles without engine modification.”

Businessman Andrew Pilley, the man behind energy broker Commercial Power and energy supplier Business Energy Solutions (BES), has applied for several new supply licences to allow him to offer gas and electricity under two company names.

Financial Mail last year highlighted how BES had been taken to court by hotelier Bokmun Chan after he claimed he was signed up for an energy deal with the company that was different from and far more expensive than the one he agreed through Commercial Power.

Pilley settled out of court. At the time, we warned that some rogue brokers in the market were targeting small firms, while experts called on Ofgem to do more to prevent widespread mis selling.

Friday, 4 February 2011

U.K. natural-gas contracts rose as exports from Norway’s two biggest plants were reduced because of bad weather and erratic power supplies.

“The processing plants at Kaarstoe and Kollsnes have had a loss in power supply due to bad weather conditions, and are now reduced,” Lisbet Kallevik, a spokeswoman for Bygnes, Norway- based Gassco AS, said today in an e-mail.

Exports from Kollsnes were reduced to about 50 million cubic meters a day at 11:30 a.m. local time, Kallevik said, adding that “the rate is changing all the time, since we are ramping up now.”

Norway is the biggest foreign gas supplier to the U.K. and the second-biggest exporter to Europe after Russia. Both Kollsnes and Kaarstoe send fuel via sub-sea pipelines to markets in mainland Europe as well as Britain.

British gas prices for working day-ahead delivery firmed on Friday as temperatures were expected to fall again, and curve contracts continued their four-session upward trend which has been fuelled by firmer oil prices.

The weather was forecast to turn colder again from the start of next week, which is likely to increase gas demand used in heating systems.

The prospect of higher demand lifted Monday gas prices by 0.45 pence to 54.65 pence per therm at 1010 GMT on Friday. Gas for working days next week traded 0.45 pence above Monday's level at 55.10 pence.

Pressure is growing at international climate change conventions for the carbon trading markets to go global, but recent events in Europe, the world’s most developed carbon trading market, illustrate only too graphically the challenges any such move would face.

In a recent Telegraph article, coverage highlights two disturbing issues in the European market that should make other regions pause for thought before embracing the idea. Firstly let us say that in principle, if we accept that carbon emissions should be reduced, then we are in favor of the concept of carbon credits as a means of encouraging polluters to reduce those emissions. A free market in carbon credits is better than government taxation because it allows companies to respond to what is best for their organization rather than all firms being forced to react in the same way; however, the experience in Europe has totally undermined the concept and the reality is that the same forces that have undermined the European market would have a major impact on adoption in other regions.

Thursday, 3 February 2011

The types of LED bulbs available for use in businesses aren't much different than those designed for home use. Home and commercial LED lights work on the same principle: they contain a chip that glows when electrical power is applied. The size of the bulb, its intended use and application all determine where it is best used.

Energy Star Ratings

The energy star program was conceived to help people better understand their energy conservation options. The rating has come to symbolize a certain standard of quality. LED bulbs, commercial or domestic, are still in their early stages, and looking for products that are energy star approved may help reduce the occurrence of difficulties with poorly manufactured lamps.

In the Commercial Setting

Since a majority of commercial lighting involves recessed or canned lighting, and LED bulbs release very little of their energy in the way of heat, they are ideal candidates for office situations. Their direct lighting and good intensity will allow you to provide focused light where it is most needed. They work with dimmer switches which will help tailor the lighting to the needs of the individual, and perhaps best of all for the bottom line, they save money on utilities.

After violence in Egypt escalated and tensions rose in gas exporter Yemen, Summer 2011 gas prices in Europe's biggest market rose to 54.35 pence per therm ($8.81 per mmbtu) by 1110 GMT on Thursday, up from a previous close of 53.80 pence, as oil prices broke through $103 a barrel LCOc1.http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE7121DP20110203

‘Northconnect will make an important contribution towards developing the European market for electricity, with increased competition in regional markets, a secure supply of electricity and more stable energy prices for consumers,’ said Harald von Heyden, head of Vattenfall Asset Optimisation and Trading.

No trades were completed on the first day, according to the exchange’s website. Five companies are ready to buy and sell, Trine Riccardi, spokeswoman for Nasdaq OMX Commodities, said by e-mail, declining to provide their names.

“We’re not quite there yet,” Paul Beynon, vice president of U.K. power at RWE Supply and Trading GmbH, said today by phone from Swindon, England. “Our legal work hasn’t been completed yet, so it’s probably another one to two weeks until we can trade.”

Essen, Germany-based RWE is among the main supporters of the N2EX exchange, which led the company to trade with more counterparties on lower credit risks, Beynon said in December.

EDF Energy shut down Britain's 1,260-megawatt Sizewell B nuclear power plant early on Tuesday for an unplanned outage, a spokesman for the UK arm of France's EDF said.

"We took the decision to take Sizewell B offline at 0400 GMT on Feb 1," the spokesman said, declining to say why Britain's newest nuclear power station had been taken offline.

Another spokeswoman for EDF Energy said that although the shutdown on Tuesday was not one of the power station's planned statutory maintenance outages, it had been planned in the last few days and was not a sudden trip.

Near term wholesale British gas prices fell again as supplies from Norway surged higher on Tuesday, leaving the UK gas system overupplied, while concernsover the crisis in Egypt supported the far curve, traders said.

Gas prices fell on Monday as Norwegian gas exports to the UK recovered from last week's field maintenance, and prices plunged again early Tuesday as flows from Norway into Scotland and England jumped, cutting reliance on storage and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Gas for delivery on Tuesday fell to 52.65 pence per therm by 1000 GMT, down about 0.85 pence from close on Monday, while contracts for Wednesday dipped to 52.55 pence and the new front month contract March fell to 52.60 pence ($8.46 per mmbtu).

But contracts from the second quarter of 2011 and beyond firmed, after a rally in crude oil prices. driven by concerns over unrest in Egypt impacting oil supplies. [O/R] "The prompt is off but the curve staying firm," said one UK energy trader. "Egypt is pricing in more beyond the spot."